


At the Heart of Him

by KalicoFox



Category: Kamisama Hajimemashita | Kamisama Kiss
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Kids don't know better, because doesn't it seem like he acts just like a child?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-04 19:00:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4149267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KalicoFox/pseuds/KalicoFox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Character study for Akura-ou, based on what I've seen of him through the anime and manga up through chapter 128.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At the Heart of Him

Akura-ou. For all his age and experience, Tomoe couldn't help but think that the younger (so very slightly younger) yokai was still very much a child.

Being incapable of being hurt had left him insensitive to the pain of others. Without that little bit of understanding, he had been isolated, left alone and lonely in the world, with no-one to be his equal.

And so he behaved like a child, indulging in whatever whim struck him at any time, and often abandoning something in the middle of it, just to start something else.

When Tomoe had joined him, Akura-ou had been so _happy_. Here was someone who could keep up, in violence, in intelligence, and in sheer ruthlessness. No longer was he lonely, and so he bequeathed the most important title to Tomoe that he could; Brother.

But he was still afraid, in one tiny, ignored, disused corner of his soul. Afraid of being alone again, abandoned and rejected. So he would take things, anything at all that might incite Tomoe to leave him, because if he took them, and Tomoe stayed, then Tomoe wasn't going to leave, because Tomoe wasn't attached to them.

Until one day, Tomoe did leave, and that shrivelled, neglected portion of his soul _screamed_ in anguish at the feeling of his brother, the only person besides himself that _mattered, leaving him._

And so, like a child, without understanding, Akura-ou took away Yukiji, because every time before, Tomoe had been exasperated, but come back; joined him again on hunts, and rampages, and all the things that were fun.

But this time, something was different. This time there was something in Tomoe's eyes that echoed the feeling he couldn't name, and wouldn't acknowledge. This time, Tomoe didn't huff, or sigh, or get exasperated. This time Tomoe got _angry_. And this time, Tomoe got _even_.

And Akura-ou still didn't understand. He'd never been taught. He couldn't know.

That all life has inherent value simply because it lives. That beautiful things which are broken can't always be repaired simply by regretting the fact that they are broken. That hasty action can cause more trouble than hasty words.

He didn't know.

Akura-ou was still, and always had been, at heart, a child.

 


End file.
